AUDITIONS - 37 Roles Available in the 4th LabWorks 15-Minute New Play Contest

PLEASE PASS ALONG THIS AUDITION INVITATION TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU KNOW IN THE AREA.

The Valley Repertory Company will audition for its 4th LabWorks 15-Minute New Play Contest on Sunday, December 2nd at 7pm at 100 High Street, Enfield, CT, 06082. Actors will read from sides; no monologues or other audition pieces required. Full-cast rehearsal Wednesday evening, December 5th, regular rehearsals begin Sunday, December 9th. Performances are February 21st-23rd, 2013.

The LabWorks 15-Minute New Play Contest presents 12 short plays (6 dramas, 6 comedies); many are world premieres. Audiences vote plays to a finals night and select a winning play in each category; the winning playwrights are awarded cash prizes of $150 each. This year’s 400+ submissions were received from 40 U.S. states and 9 countries and represent beginning, emerging, and established writers alike. Plays presented in our LabWorks contest have since received publication and further production success. The contest enjoys sold-out and highly enthusiastic audiences.

The LabWorks 15-Minute New Play Contest is an unparalleled opportunity to create original roles in brand-new works, with directors working in collaboration with their playwrights. This year’s directors are Janine Flood, Jeffrey Flood, Dorrie Mitchell, and Heidi Jean Weinrich.

This year’s contest has 38 roles, ranging in age from 10 (male and female, played by adults) to 60’s (male and female). We attempt to cast actors in more than one role, based on strength of auditions. Listed below are this year’s titles, with synopses and casting details.

The Play Contest company will rehearse once a week, either on Sundays or Wednesdays depending upon which plays you are cast in.

SPECIAL CASTING NEEDS: For “6 Words”, we seek 1 African-American male (40ish), and a second African-American adult (gender flexible). Additionally, we have roles for actors of Latino ethnicity or look.

ALL 12 SCRIPTS ARE AVAILABLE IN FULL ON WWW.VALLEYREP.COM. Additionally, they are available now for on-site use at the Enfield Public Library at 104 Middle Road (held at the Reference Desk). We strongly suggest reading the scripts in advance of auditions. Visit us at www.valleyrep.com and via Facebook (“The Valley Repertory Company”). Questions, contact Jeffrey Flood, co-producer, via email: sherifftruman@charter.net.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday, December 2nd at 7pm!

DRAMA SEMIFINALISTS

AFTER THE HERSHOLT by Hal Corley On a stormy Monday evening in April 1961, Buddy is glued to the television—which keeps going in and out with the storm—waiting to see whether Elizabeth Taylor will win the Best Actress Oscar. His mother Nora Lee, struggling to understand her son’s obsession, grapples with a new understanding of her son’s nature.

Buddy: Male, 17 Nora Lee: Female, 34

6 WORDS by Betsy Maguire This thought-provoking drama examines race on both a large and small scale. Scott Banks (who’s white) and Jerome Jones (who’s black) meet to discuss Jerome’s son Daryl’s hospitalization after he was caught trespassing on Scott’s property, as news trucks camp out on Scott’s street. Their tense encounter is counterpointed by journalist Michele Norris’ 2010 “Race Card Project”, in which blacks and whites offer 6-word statements on America’s unending struggle.

The role of Amanda Banks, Scott's 8 year old daughter, has already been cast.

A LONG TRIP by Dan McGeehan An elderly man’s wife begins to suffer from diminished faculties, and as he struggles to jog her memories of their first date, we see their younger selves experiencing that date for the first time, in this tender and honest drama.

THE BUS BOY by Michael R. McGuire Carmela and her husband Juan are enjoying dinner at a fancy restaurant while vacationing in a politically volatile country. Suddenly abandoned by him there, she is assumed by the staff to be a young male employee and, penniless and not knowing the language, she is forced to assume a toilsome and anonymous new life as the bus boy.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY by J.C. Pankratz Mariela, a butcher in small-town Wyoming, has a condition called hyperthymesia, giving her instant total recall of every day of her life, except the day Detective Ludman is interested in: the day Mariela last saw her brother Jackie, a suspect in a missing-persons case.

Mariela: Female, 42 K. Ludman: Police detective, female, 35

THE ISLANDS by Norman Simon At an outdoor café in a European resort town, Elise, an American, engages a Dutchwoman named Anne-Marie in a seemingly innocent conversation about their children, but Elise’s intentions are far darker than they seem in this twisty, unnerving drama.

Elise: Female, American Anne-Marie: Female, Dutch Tomas: Male

COMEDY SEMIFINALISTS

THE WINNER'S CHOICE EMPRESS OF THE WAVES BEAUTY CRUISE by Reina Hardy Glen is thrilled to be judging “The Winner’s Choice Empress of the Waves Beauty Cruise” pageant for the first time, and Rob, in his third year, is happy to teach him the ropes, but neither man gets what he signed up for in this raunchy and hilarious comedy.

Glen: Male, middle-aged Rob: Male, middle-aged

THE OAK TREE by Jay Koepke Ten-year-olds Daisy and Stu are having their first date under the shade of an ancient tree, but when Stu tries to get Daisy some apples, the tree—crude, rude, and NOT a Shel Silverstein fan—decides to teach Stu a lesson.

Stu: Male, 10, played by an adult Daisy: Female, 10, played by an adult The Oak Tree: Male, hundreds of years old

HOW TO BAKE A FARCE by Betsy Maguire Bob’s wife Lula-Rae is the cheerful host of TV’s Christian Cooking, and he’s in trouble: he lost a lot of money at the Indian casino, breaking one of Lula Rae’s “3 d” rules (no dice). Bob’s quick-money scheme, renting Lula Rae’s studio to a film director for the day, leads to havoc when the director recruits Bob’s friend Larry to play Kokoum, Pocahontas’ “Indian stud”.

SHIRLEY VS. THE SQUIRRELS by Camilla Maxwell Armed with a BB gun and cayenne pepper, elderly Shirley is engaged in all-out war with the squirrels terrorizing her garden. Shirley’s daughter Chloe is concerned about her mother’s state of mind, and Chloe’s husband Jonathan is no help—except when it comes to squirrel hunting—in this wild and wooly comedy.

TOMATO by Josh McIlvain Archibald gets some shocking news from his solicitor Beauregard…his father was a tomato! And as if that’s not enough, Beauregard introduces Archibald’s long-lost half-sister Catherine—a tomato-potato!—in this odd and hilarious comedy of manners.

GOOD TALK by James McLindon A typical father-and-son argument is turned inside out with dialogue that tells the meaning behind their words, rather than the words themselves (Dad: “Overly cheerful greeting, childish pet name.” Son: “Scarcely perceptible grunt.”) in this clever and insightful comedy.